Yogesh Shelke earned his M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Pune and completed his Ph.D. in Organic Synthesis at IIT Bombay in 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Santosh J. Gharpure. He then joined Prof. K. C. Nicolaou’s group at Rice University, where he worked on the total synthesis of anticancer natural products until September 2020. From October 2020, he conducted postdoctoral research in Prof. Martin Burke’s group at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, developing renal-sparing derivatives of amphotericin B, which culminated in a new antifungal clinical candidate. In May 2022, he moved to Novo Nordisk Inc., Boston, where he focused on the medicinal chemistry of oligonucleotides. Since May 2025, he has been working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at IIT Madras.
Education
- Ph.D., 2011-2018; Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Mumbai, India.
- M. Sc., 2009-2011; Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra, India.
- B. Sc., 2006-2009; Savitribai Phule Pune University, Maharashtra, India.
Professional Experience:
- Assistant Professor: May 2025 to Present; IIT Madras, Chennai, India.
- Scientist II-Medicinal Chemistry: May 2022 to May 2025; Novo Nordisk Inc., Boston, USA.
- Postdoc: October 2020 to May 2022; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA with Prof. Martin Burke.
- Postdoc: May 2018 to September 2020; Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA with Prof. K. C. Nicolaou.
Awards & Fellowships:
- 2022: DST: DST INSPIRE Faculty Fellow Award.
- 2021: Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, RSC: Outstanding Reviewer Award, RSC.
- 2018: NOST-Sai Life: Best Ph.D. Thesis Award.
- 2011: CSIR: JRF and SRF fellowships.